The top wine of St. Andrea Szőlőbirtok in Egerszalók received the highest score for the Hungarian dry red wine ever.
The best-known international wine writer, James Suckling, awarded the Egri Bikavér wine from the 2018 vintage Agapé Nagy-Eged-hegy vineyard with an extremely high 98 points. Based on the score just published, Agapé 2018 is Hungary’s best dry red wine.
Suckling’s 98 points is also an outstanding professional recognition in an international context, as the professional writer puts it,
St. Andrea Vineyard’s Agape is “comparable to the best red wines in the world.”
Founded in 2002, the St. Andrea winery is now run jointly by father and son, the two György Lőrincz, with the mother and wife – namesake – Andrea, and the two younger sons, Bálint and Ákos, also working with them. They hosted the international wine writer James Suckling, who visited Egerszalók in July to spend long hours tasting and talking with the family. The meeting is evidenced by a memorable inscription framed on the wall of the estate: You are rockstars – wrote the American expert.
We then had to wait until the end of October for the scores, but it was worth it: the 2018 vintage of the vineyard’s wine, Agapé, received an outstanding 98-point rating at the international level. This is the second time St. Andrea Szőlőbirtok has received outstanding recognition: two years ago, their Nagy-Eged Egri Bikavér wine from the 2017 vintage was chosen as one of the 50 best wines in the world at the Decanter world competition with 97 points. The prize at that time gave a huge boost to Eger and the Eger bull blood.
World class
“The fact that James Suckling visited us personally is touching. And the fact that we got such scores from him is amazing. A feedback that confirms to us that Eger really has unique qualities and that we can bravely stand out in front of the world with this uniqueness, because we will not be ashamed. And 98 points is quite amazing. We have felt that 2018 is perhaps the best St. Andrea vintage ever, but from this year, Agapé is actually the best wine of our life so far that we could help the world with. We are very grateful!” said the younger György Lőrincz.
“This fantastic red wine opens continuously with red berries such as cherry, flowers, red rose and hibiscus. Crushed stone and flint, shell and finally granite. Medium and full-bodied with extremely fine tannins that run the length of the wine, giving it minerality and depth. A thought-provoking and meditative wine. World class. A blend of Kékfrankos, merlot, pinot noir, syrah and kadarka. Let’s give it three to four years to open up. Best after 2027,” writes James Suckling about Agape.
(Forbes)
Photo: standrea.com
